Tag: Strava

Ups and Downs

Having done the hills to the west of Durham last week I thought that I would do the run to the coast this week. This should really have been do the hills to the east of Durham. It is not flat, but there are some pretty interesting ups and downs to contend with. The road surfaces are some of the worst I’ve ridden. Rough tarmac at it’s worst – making the bike vibrate and bounce around. Amazingly it seems to have taken just over two hours to do less than 25 miles.

Now here’s the rub. I actually planned the route using Strava’s route planner and then was a bit put out by the difference in numbers recorded on the actual ride. I made a couple of detours, so I’ve just cloned and edited the planned route to represent the one I did. Strava’s route planner says:

35.3mi Distance and 2,681ft Elevation Gain

So why does the ride I actually did only come in at:

24.3mi Distance and 1,635ft Elevation Gain

To put a further twist on it, the Wahoo app I use to record the ride has logged it as:

23.2mi Distance and doesn’t show elevation gain.

Now why Strava corrects the data that is exported to it from the Wahoo app, I am not sure, but in th east it’s always seemed more plausible information.

I conclude that the Strava route planner software is just incorrect in its calculations. I had thought that the Wahoo / Strava issues was related to the recorded data via the speed sensor, but given that’s kaput at present I am at a loss to explain it – they both seem to use the same Google data.

All I know is my legs feel like they’ve done some climbing this evening and more than last week although Strava reckon’s it’s actual 20ft less climbing than that ride.

In other news, the turbo session yesterday evening seems to have buggered the speed sensor on my Wahoo SC bluetooth unit. The cadence still works and even a brand new battery purchased via a dash into the city this morning has refused to resurrect it. It’ll be off back to Wiggle for replacement.

Seeing Red

Day off yesterday, so headed out on the road bike. I was immediately reminded that the pawls on the Mavic Helium freehub are bolloxed and I need to order some new ones from the hub doctor. Nonetheless in general motoring around it was fine. I am also having to come to terms with the fact that I cannot just big ring it everywhere and I will occasionally need to use the front mech.

The results of doing so were interesting – the acceleration once you put the hammer down on the Ti Crown Jewel is insane. I think the super stiff cranks and BB setup just equate to immediate power transfer and coupled with the right gearing the bike accelerates like stink. When you’re slightly lifting the front wheel when gunning it then you know something is going on. Those SRAM Red levers shift so sweetly down the block too.

The ride itself was rather intense. The conditions when I left seemed to be cool and overcast and within 15 minutes became sunny and then incredibly humid. This on the whole was okay as long as you kept moving, but once you stopped then it was a hot and sweaty affair. Worst was being stuck in insane amounts of traffic for a mid-week ride outside of rush hour and then getting stopped at every single set of red lights. I kid you not it was like I was a bloody red light magnet yesterday.

Red lights

At the top of the climb out of Woodley into Hyde I felt like my brain was boiling. At least getting on the down hills provided some relief. Short on water I headed home sooner than planned, but I am at least getting some mojo back. A combination of more biking, a bit of running at a kettlebells class once a week is seeing an improvement in my general fitness and clearly I’ve lost some weight as shorts that wouldn’t fit before do now. Still someway to go to get back into a decent level of form, but those Peak District hills are calling.